AUTHOR'S NOTE: due to real life, I will be taking a short break following this chapter. The next chapter is scheduled for 6 March.
Chapter 177: The Absence.
"The night was drawing in now, the light from the sun fading as the sky turned from a dull grey to a dusky navy."
-Murron Bartlett, Bright Eyes
Bigwig spent most of the rest of the day training the owsla. According to some of them, this was more like torture, but they knew better than to publicly express such an opinion. The captain was in a bad mood, and not just because of the previous evening's unfortunate events: two rabbits had not reported for training. To make things worse, the missing rabbits, Thethuthinnang and Flyairth, had previously been reliable. He did his best with the rabbits who did show up (Spartina in particular was doing a great job), but the absent rabbits still weighed on his mind.
In mid-afternoon, while he was letting his owsla take a short break, Hazel hopped over to him.
-"Have you seen Flyairth?" the Chief asked.
-"No, I have not," Bigwig said with a sigh. "She hasn't been out here all day. I suspect she's probably underground fuming over not winning that silly election."
-"I was thinking something like that, but no. I checked all the burrows, she's not underground, which is why I came to you."
-"Wait, so she's not underground, nor above ground? Where else could she be?"
-"You're talking about Flyairth?" came a third voice; Hazel and Bigwig turned to see Blackavar, who had just returned for another silflay following his nap.
-"Yes," Hazel said. "Do you know where she is?"
-"Yeah, don't bother searching for her, she left the warren earlier this morning."
-"SHE LEFT!?" Hazel and Bigwig said in unison.
-"Calm down, there!" Blackavar had been taken aback by the intense reaction. "What's so bad about leaving? I thought this was what made us different from Efrafa, that we all have the freedom to come and go as we please."
-"Of course," Hazel said. "Anyone is free to leave if they wish. But she should have told us first, to prevent anyone from worrying."
-"...oh, then you mean she didn't tell anyone else? I thought she had. Then again, she only told me and Nyreem because we were out guarding and we saw her leave."
-"Perhaps she was relying on you two to relay the message." Hazel could not be sure that was what Flyairth had expected, but this seemed like a plausible theory.
-"If you knew, why didn't you tell us?" Bigwig shouted.
-"To tell the truth...nobody asked, so I saw no reason to say anything," Blackavar confessed. "What she does is her business, who am I to meddle?"
-"NOBODY ASKED!?" Bigwig was now furious. "What kind of ridiculous reasoning is that? Besides, when I first came above ground this morning, I asked for a full report!"
-"I thought you were only asking about elil."
-"Well no, I meant everything!" By then, Bigwig had largely forgotten about Flyairth, and was now focusing solely on what he perceived as Blackavar's incompetence. "What else did you omit from your report? Tell me everything, no matter how insignificant."
-"Well..." Blackavar fell silent for a few moments, trying to remember. "Soon after we arrived above ground, a rat arrived. He wasn't hostile, just searching for food, so we left him alone. He left a while later when he was no longer hungry. Then came a squirrel, who thought she had hidden some nuts in the area recently, but then it turned out she had misremembered, so she left too. After a while, another rat arrived and..."
-"All right, all right!" Bigwig shouted in frustration. "Maybe that's a bit too detailed."
-"First, I'm not detailed enough, next it's too much." Blackavar's mood was rapidly souring. "You truly are impossible to satisfy."
While Blackavar made a valid point, criticizing Bigwig, especially while he was in a bad mood, was a bad decision.
-"In that case, consider yourself off guard duty PERMANENTLY!" The captain turned back to his Chief. "Now if you'll excuse me, I still have an owsla to train."
After Bigwig had hopped away back to training grounds, Hazel focused his attention on Blackavar. He did not want the brown rabbit to feel guilty over Bigwig's harsh tirade.
-"Don't take it personally. He's still mad about last night, and it will probably take a while for him to recover. Once he has, he'll probably let you guard again."
-"It's not like I had a good time last night either," Blackavar admitted. "Trying to run a legitimate business in that star place, only for that meddling Campion to spy on me again...and then, after so little sleep, I went to guard, an extremely boring task that nobody appreciates."
-"I appreciate what you did last night. The guarding, I mean."
-"I appreciate the appreciation, I guess. But I'll still never amount to much."
Before Hazel could reply, Blackavar hopped back underground. The Chief sighed; his attempt at cheering up the former guard had not gone so well.
Unbeknownst to Hazel, Pipkin was nearby, and listened to the entire conversation. It was only once Hazel was alone again that he finally revealed his presence.
-"Hazel, there's something important I have to ask you."
-"What is it?" the Chief said.
-"I've heard you say that Flyairth left without telling anyone, except the guards because that was unavoidable." Pipkin took a deep breath. "I don't know if I'm just being paranoid, but...what if she's a spy for Woundwort? Maybe she left to tell him information about our warren's location or defences."
-"It's...I had never considered that. I appreciate you coming to me with your concerns."
-"That feels impossible," Hyzenthlay said, hopping over to the other two. "I've known her for seasons, she would never betray us like this. I've seen the way she was affected when Woundwort raided her warren, and when she saw the tragic results; no rabbit would be able to fake such emotions."
-"You've known her longer than I have," Hazel said, "so I trust you. But in that case, what do you suppose she's up to? Why would she leave like this? Is she not happy here?"
-"Back at the old warren, she often left when things didn't go her way. I think she probably did the same thing again, because she's still mad about her defeat in the election. Not to worry, though, she always came back shortly after sunset, and usually appeared more cheerful then; I would expect the same thing today."
-"That's an unusual way to get rid of bad feelings," Pipkin said. "Shouldn't she try to spend time with close friends instead?"
-"All rabbits are different. While being with loved ones might work for some, for her it's always been running off alone for the day."
-"Didn't anyone try to follow her, to cheer her up?"
-"Some of us would have tried, but it was impossible: she usually left early in the morning, and she would be long gone by the time anyone realized what had happened. By then, her scent was usually too faint for anyone to be able to track her down."
-"I just hope she doesn't get in trouble," Hazel said. "If she finds herself in a dangerous situation and in need of help, we may never find out."
As it turned out, Flyairth returned just after sunset, as Hyzenthlay had predicted. By then, Bigwig had finished training the owsla for the day, and most rabbits had gone underground, except a few who were up for a late silflay. Flyairth appeared very calm, and made her way directly towards the warren's main entrance, without paying attention to the others.
-"Well! Where have YOU been all day?" Dandelion said; he was exhausted following the training he had gone through.
-"I had a few things I need to sort out," the doe replied, without looking at Dandelion.
-"While you were sorting out these things, some of us were being tortured." Now that Bigwig was underground, Hawkbit did not hesitate to express his true feelings.
-"Whiner," was Flyairth's response, before hopping underground. Hawkbit blinked a few times, shocked by what he had heard.
-"She called me a whiner! Am I really that bad?"
-"You're not a whiner," Dandelion replied. "You were just stating facts, Bigwig's training really is torture." He sighed. "I, for one, can't wait for the war to end, so I can finally get a break from this endless training."
-"Knowing Bigwig, I doubt he will give us a break even after Woundwort is defeated."
-"I hope you're wrong," Dandelion said with a shudder.
-"Believe me, I would love to be wrong."
As Hyzenthlay went to her burrow for the night, she was surprised to find that someone else was already there. Additionally, the atmosphere was filled with dust; the visitor was digging.
-"Thethuthinnang, what are you doing?"
Thethuthinnang turned around, and started to groom herself; most of her body was filthy.
-"I'm digging you a bigger burrow," she explained. "Fit for a Chief."
-"It's really not necessary, I..." Hyzenthlay started to say, but was cut off.
"It is. I would have done it yesterday, but it was so late when you won the election, and we were all exhausted afterwards, and this morning Vilthuril told the story, so I didn't have the opportunity until earlier this afternoon."
-"I appreciate your hard work, but you can stop now." Hyzenthlay looked around the burrow. "This place is huge, almost as big as Hazel's burrow."
-"I'm not done just yet," Thethuthinnang said, starting to scratch the wall once again. "We don't want one Chief to have a bigger burrow than the others."
-"But Hazel also has a mate and kittens living with him. Of course they need a large burrow."
-"If you choose to have kittens in the future, the burrow will be ready, no further digging will be needed then."
Hyzenthlay could see how exhausted Thethuthinnang was, she had to find a way to get her friend to stop.
-"I was planning to go to sleep, I can't do that if you're busy digging," she finally said.
-"I suppose you're right. Just let me get some fresh bedding and..."
-"No, it's fine, really. If we sleep close together, it'll be just as comfortable."